The novelist Lu He-ruo was active from the Japanese colonial period to the early post-war period in Taiwan. His Japanese-language novel Oxcart was well-received in literary circles at the time. Also known as a musician, vocalist and revolutionary, Lu lived a very storied life.
Hakka TV’s 2018 drama Rosan 1914 takes up Lu’s story from the Japanese colonial period with an adaptation of his life in a TV drama which brings together nine of his novels.
Director Lou Yi-an is fascinated by Taiwanese history circa 1945, during the war’s waning years. When Lou discovered Lu had captured the spirit of that period in his diaries, he decided to shoot his story to introduce audiences to what Taiwan was like back then through the life of this legendary figure.
Photo courtesy of Hakka TV
照片:客家電視台提供
“Many people know about the Gwangju Uprising through South Korean movies, but have no idea of events that happened in Taiwan,” Lou says, speaking of the time when Taiwan went from being a Japanese colony to being governed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Lu would have been conflicted over whether he saw himself as a Japanese or a Taiwanese and “this confusion would have been felt throughout Taiwan at the time.”
In order to merge Lu’s novels and life story, the drama uses stage performances, employing the rarely used play-within-a-play format to bring a unique approach to the scenes.
Lu’s talent went beyond writing novels: He was also an accomplished musician and a vocalist. To make his role more believable, actor Mo Zi-yi – who cannot play the piano – spent many hours learning piano fingering technique, not wanting to rely on a hand model or by keeping his hands out of shot. Mo even memorized the lyrics from German music so that he could get the mouthing of the words right for the camera.
According to Mo, every historical figure has many aspects to their character, and in addition to the more positive side of Lu’s personality, he wanted to show something of the more vulnerable and less assured aspects that would make the character more believable. “If he is presented as too perfect it won’t come off as genuine; that’s not how I see acting,” Mo says.
Filming for Rosan 1914 began in November, and is expected to hit the screens in April this year.
(CNA, translated by Paul Cooper)
呂赫若為活躍於台灣日治時期到戰後初期的小說家,其日文小說「牛車」受到當時文壇高度矚目,同時更具有音樂家、聲樂家、革命家等身分,人生充滿傳奇故事。
客家電視台推出二○一八年度戲劇「台北歌手」,從日治時代的呂赫若談起,將他的精彩生平改編,串聯呂赫若九篇小說拍成電視劇。
導演樓一安對於台灣在一九四五年戰爭末期那段歷史十分有興趣,他透過呂赫若撰寫的日記看到那個世代的風華,也促使他想拍呂赫若的故事,盼讓觀眾透過這名傳奇才子的一生,重新認識那段時期的台灣面貌。
「大家可能透過韓國電影知道韓國光州事件,反而不瞭解台灣本土的故事」,樓一安說,從日治到民國時期,呂赫若當時處在自己是「日本人」還是「台灣人」的矛盾中,「這也是那個時代普遍的困惑」。
為了將呂赫若的小說和人生故事交錯呈現,劇中結合舞台劇表演方式,以少見的「劇中劇」挑戰不一樣的拍攝鏡頭。
呂赫若除了是小說家,還具有音樂家、聲樂家的優異才華 。為了讓劇中角色更有說服力,不會彈琴的莫子儀花相當多時間練鋼琴指法,坦言不想依賴手模或避開鏡頭借位,甚至背下德文聲樂歌詞,配合嘴型拍攝,下足功夫力求演出到位。
莫子儀認為,每個歷史人物的性格都有不同面向,除了風光正向的一面,演出無助脆弱或無能為力的時候,都能讓人物更真實,「包裝太完美就過於虛假,這不是我對表演的信念」。
「台北歌手」去年十一月底開拍,預計今年四月播出。
(中央社)
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
It’s another school day with the same ritual. You wake up to your smartphone’s alarm, scroll through messages during your commute, and listen to your favorite playlist with your wireless earbuds between classes. These devices, integrated smoothly into your daily routine, certainly make life more convenient. However, where do these devices end up after you replace them? In fact, the issue of electronic waste is a growing global concern. According to the United Nations, in 2019 alone, we generated an astonishing 53.6 million tons of e-waste—an average of 7.3kg per person. Projections hint at the figure soaring to 110
It’s no secret that Japanese people have a deep affection for noodles. Like in the rest of East Asia, noodles are an important staple food, second only to rice. Japanese people have enjoyed noodles for over 1,000 years. The first noodles came from China and were introduced around 800 CE. As time passed, noodles in Japan not only became widespread but also developed some unique Japanese characteristics. The three most popular types of noodles in Japan are ramen, soba, and udon. Ramen, typically made from wheat flour, is usually thin and firm. The dough is kneaded and left to
Rice is an essential ingredient in Taiwanese cuisine. Many foods are made of rice, adding more variety to our cooking, such as rice cake, or “gui.” Wagui is made by steaming rice flour batter in a bowl. The term “gui” refers to a type of food made from rice, while “wa” refers to a bowl. The pronunciation of “gui” in Taiwanese Hokkien is similar to the word for “nobility” in Chinese, so it is common for people to prepare various types of gui, including wagui, as offerings to the gods or ancestors,. 米是台灣重要的主食,用米製成的食品十分多元,豐富我們的飲食,如米做成的「粿」。粿的意思是米做成的糕點,碗粿是將在來米漿倒入碗中蒸熟,因而得名。粿因為音同「貴」,因此碗粿等粿食常用作供品祭拜神明和祖先。 nobility (n.) 高貴,高尚;貴族 offering (n.) 供品 While Taiwan may not be